4 Black Holes in Personal Rapid Transit's Cyberspace Dream

As this excellent Light Rail Now article explains, PRT only exists in computer graphics on the many PRT websites all linked to one another. But the cyber-illusion is starting to fall apart. Dead links are starting to spread like varicose veins as the websites for dead and moribund PRT projects like E.D.I.C.T. blink off. Here's four examples:

1) The Citizens for Personal Rapid Transit website featuring convicted felon Dean Zimmermann's bizarre PRT plan for South Minneapolis has been down for a week or more:

www.cprt.org

I heard the CPRT had a little trouble with the IRS after they violated their non-profit status by electioneering for Zimmermann and other PRT-promoting candidates in the 2005 election. You can still view archived pages from the cprt.org website at the Wayback Machine.

2)Years ago, the city council of Cardiff, Wales was hoodwinked into supporting the phony PRT project called ULTra. When ULTra turned out to be a tortoise-slow, battery-powered, magnet-guided, gussied-up golf cart, they apparently pulled the plug on the web page heralding the ominous-sounding program they called E.D.I.C.T.

www.cardiff.gov.uk/edict

Here's what happened to E.D.I.C.T.:

The lead partner in EDICT was the Welsh capital Cardiff which has been planning an ULTra system for several years. The city is home to ULTra's 1 km-long test track, which opened in 2002, and the council originally hoped to have a commercial system running by 2004. Progress slowed, however, after political disagreements and the withdrawal of funding by the Welsh Assembly in 2003.

Translation: another failed PRT project flushed down the memory hole.

3) Skyweb Express (the Taxi 2000 Corporation) still rides the cyber-waves, but the would-be PRT vendor is manned by a ghostly crew and hasn't posted any news on its website's news page since 2004. Mark Olson links to Taxi 2000's website on his campaign website.

4) Skyloop has been dead as a doornail since 2001. Skyloop's website is a relic from PRT's go-go years in the late 1990's... hilarious stuff.

"Personal Rapid Transit"... Mark Olson Dares Not Speak Its Name

You can read Rep. Mark Olson's weasel-worded letter to the Sherburne County Citizen HERE.

In two previous campaigns, the Olson Volunteer Committee raised money and spent thousands of dollars to publish many reasons why we should not support Northstar and inform people about the misleading taxpayer funded publications that pushed the train. After proposing a better, more comprehensive solution to address Metro congestion and hearing from more people who contacted me to oppose Northstar, shouldn’t I keep faith with my words? I certainly hope so.

So what is that "better, more comprehensive solution"? Why can't Mark Olson even utter the letters "PRT" anymore?

Maybe it was the Taxi 2000 lawsuit last year.

Maybe it was the humiliation of having his idiotic PRT amendment to the 2006 bonding bill voted down 107 to 26.

Maybe it was his pod-pal Zimmermann's bribery conviction last month.

How long will the media allow Mark Olson to hide the truth from the voters of 16b?

The Shrinking Circle: 3 Candidates Reject Personal Rapid Transit

The circle is getting smaller... Olson may soon be the only politician in Minnesota who promotes PRT... at least the only politician not searving time in a Federal penitentiary.

Senate District 41 Julie Risser, the Green Party candidate says:

After researching PRT, reading the Sierra Club's position and the Transit for Livable Communities' website, I have come to the conclusion that PRT is not viable for Minnesota. Minnesota has made a committment to lightrail. We need to continue this committment. The Southwest Corridor is a logical continuation of the lightrail network. We also need to continue our committments to bike paths, side walks, and buses. The Twin Cities is decades behind other metro areas in terms of transit.

also:

Independence Party Candidates distance themselves from the IP platform's PRT plank:

"Lighter moment: Fitzgerald said he opposed government subsidization of personal rapid transit, when asked to cite a major difference with his party."

John Binkowski, the IP candidate in the Sixth Congressional District also rejected PRT.

I would like to see the media investigate why Bachmann, Olson, Vandeveer and Zimmermann promoted PRT instead of treating the issue as a "lighter moment".

A few years ago, there was nothing "light" about the disruptive tactics PRT supporters used to stop rail transit in Minnesota and elsewhere.

Many rail transit advocates remember when PRT promoters used to disrupt meetings about transit. In one memorable encounter, a deranged man interrupted an art workshop my wife and I were giving at Macalester College, shouting that PRT is the “only transportation solution", threw a dozen Taxi 2000 Corporation brochures at us and stormed out.

That's probably what Mark Olson and Ed Anderson really meant when they said that said that PRT was a "disruptive technology" in this article.

Learn more about the PRT scam at the PRT is a Joke web site.

Jim Huhtala Wins DFL Primary

Looking forward to November...

Bachmann to Appear at Mark Olson (16b) Fundraiser

See the invite HERE.

He and Michele Bachmann promoted the PRT boondoggle with convicted felon Dean Zimmermann.

Pulse Editor and Publisher Ed Felein Says Personal Rapid Transit "Was Idiotic"

Ed Felein is the Editor and Publisher of Pulse and a former Green Party candidate.

In a cover story in this week's Pulse, Felein defends his friend and fellow Green Dean Zimmermann who was recently convicted of bribery.

On the Minneapolis Issues List, The Greens rallied to Zimmermann's fallen standard. Senate candidate and PRT promoter Michael Cavlan accused the Star Tribune (which has always given Zimmermann favorable coverage) of being... get ready to laugh... "corporate". Another list member, Chris Johnson accuses "special interests" of being "out to get Zimmermann".

David Greene responds:

You're kidding, right? This is why the Green party is difficult to take seriously. It's not about what other people have done. It's about what DEAN did. If all of our other councilmembers were members of the mafia, it wouldn't change the fact that what Dean did was wrong.

Now, I was no fan of Dean, I'll freely admit that. His work for PRT set back getting real transit going in the metro area quite a few years. In the end, he was a fairly ineffective councilmember but he did just enough damage to transit by diverting resources to pie-in-the-sky vaporware that has not a chance of succeeding. He simultaneously encouraged anti-transit legislators to gum up the conversation using calculated efforts to sell PRT as "real transit" in order to kill systems like LRT that are proven to work. This did not, in my mind, serve the community.

Then Ed Felein weighs in...

I find myself in the curious position of agreeing with David Greene at the same time I disagree with him. I agree that PRT was idiotic and that our energies should be directed toward making LRT as safe, fast, non-polluting and economical as possible.

Are the Greens throwing PRT overboard to save their sinking ship?

Will the Media Ask Risser, Bachmann, Olson and Vandeveer About PRT?

UPDATE: Julie Risser no longer promotes PRT.

Spot at The Cucking Stool blog gets right to the heart of the issue:

"....it sure looks like the Republicans are using the Greens to oppose legitimate transit solutions."

With the recent bribery conviction of Dean Zimmermann, the media needs to take another look at the bogus transportation scheme Zimmermann spent so much time promoting.

The stockholders in the Taxi 2000 Corporation could have made big profits if Zimmermann, Olson and Bachmann had been successful in passing legislation that would benefit Taxi 2000.

The media needs to get a list of everyone who held shares in Taxi 2000.

Contact the media and insist that their political reporters ask Risser, Olson, Bachmann and Vandeveer, why they promoted Dean Zimmermann's PRT boondoggle.

Julie Risser - Another Green PRTista Helping to Elect Republicans

UPDATE: Julie Risser no longer promotes PRT.


UPDATE: Julie Risser no longer promotes PRT.

Complete Trial Notes from the Dean Zimmermann Trial

Detailed notes of all 8 days of the trial and more at the Minneapolis Confidential Blog.

Citizens of 16b should take the time to learn about this case.

Representative Mark Olson worked closely with Dean Zimmermann, now a convicted felon awaiting sentencing.

Mark Olson needs to explain why he worked closely with Zimmermann to make the taxpayers of Minnesota pay for their PRT boondoggle. Mark Olson who has a link to the Taxi 2000 Corporation on his campaign web site, needs to divulge whether anyone close to him or to Dean Zimmermann held stock in the Taxi 2000 Corporation and therefore could benefit financially from the sale of that stock if Olson's PRT bills would have been approved by the Minnesota Legislature.

The media which published and broadcast many stories on the Personal Rapid Transit scam need to investigate Olson's role in it.

Sherburne County Citizen Publishes Partisan Puff Piece for Mark Olson

An article in a newspaper calling itself the Sherburne County Citizen

The article paints a glowing portrait of Rep. Mark Olson. Althought the article mentions a few of Mark Olson's nutty ideas, It does not mention Personal Rapid Transit (PRT)... a project Mark Olson devoted a great deal of his time at the capital... not surprising considering Mark Olson's partner in the PRT scam, Dean Zimmermann was just convicted of bribery in Federal Court and awaits sentencing.

The following is a letter to the editor of the Sherburne County Citizen forwarded to me with permission to post it on this blog.

Dear Mr. Meyer,
 
My name is Tommy Johnson.  Earlier this year I sought the DFL endorsement for Congress in the Third Congressional District.  While several campaigns have since asked for and received advice, I want to make clear I am not a member of any campaign.  I am a member of the DFL Veteran’s Caucus.  The following speaks for no one but my self.
 
Yesterday, I attended a political house party for Jim Huhtala, Glen Resman, and Patty Wetterling in Big Lake.  Afterwards, I was shown a Sherburne County Citizen webpage containing what I could not determine was an opinion, an article, a press release, or an advertisement.  I was told this page was the same as published in print, on the website it is in the “news” section.
 
Here’s the link: 
 
http://www.citizennewspaper.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=7261

 
My initial reaction was that while possible, this piece could not, should not, be the work of a newspaper employee. 
 
I was asked by a member of Mr. Huhtala’s campaign for my thoughts and advice.  I was so disturbed by this item, for a multitude of reasons, that I have decided to contact you directly and copy Mr. Huhtala and others.  
 
I will not speculate on motive nor will I comment on content.  I will suggest remedy based on the assumption this was a campaign generated item due to two glaring facts:
 
There was no byline identifying the writer; the only quotes used were by candidate Mark Olson and Republican Party District 16B Chair Mark Swanson. 
 
I would argue you at minimum owe the Huhtala campaign a full explanation of how this item ended up in print, as published. 
 
I researched Minnesota News Council Determinations.  Decision #95 appears to address similar issues and the first complaint was unanimously upheld.
 
http://www.news-council.org/Outcomes/outcomes_det-95.html

 
My personal opinion is the upheld grounds for complaint #1 in Decision #95 are not as serious as the complaint that could be made for this item.  However, I do not feel the public would be served if a complaint were to be filed until your publication has contacted Mr. Huhtala’s campaign to explain how you intend to equitably rectify this incident.
 
If this item was a campaign generated piece, I do not fault the Olson campaign for the finished placement – it is the publication’s responsibility to hold themselves to journalistic standards and ethics.
 
If this item was a campaign generated piece, clearly you owe the Huhtala campaign the same size and placement.
 
However this item ended up in print, you owe your readership an explanation of how this happened and what steps will be taken to ensure it never happens again – I would argue in editorial format.  
 
The Fourth Estate has a rights, and responsibilities.  Clearly, your publication failed to exercise the latter.
 
 
Tommy Johnson
Eden Prairie

Jury Finds Mark Olson's Personal Rapid Transit Pal Dean Zimmermann Guilty on 3 Counts of Bribery

Will the media ask Mark Olson some serious questions about the PRT scam he and Zimmermann tried to sell the Minnesota taxpayer?



Randy Furst filed this report minutes after the verdict.

Zimmermann, who represented the city's sixth ward from 2001 to 2005, was charged in a federal indictment with four counts, three involving allegations that he took $7,200 in cash bribes from a property developer, Gary A. Carlson. He was convicted on three of the charges.

We'll have more of Liz McLemore's detailed notes from the trial and hopefully, some excepts from the FBI videos at Minneapolis Confidential.

Blogging the Zimmermann Trial at Minneapolis Confidential

We have notes and other trial info at the Minneapolis Confidential Blog:

http://www.minneapolisconfidential.blogspot.com/

Day Two of the Dean Zimmermann Trial- The Tapes

Prosecution witness Gary Carlson took the stand in the afternoon and the long-anticipated tapes dropped one bombshell after another.

Zimmermann:"Republicans, Democrats, Greens... what's the difference. It's all money."

Liz McLemore will have a detailed account of Tuesday's testimony later at the Minneapolis Confidential Blog

Day one (with courtroom sketch) at Twin Cities Daily Planet.

Day One at the Dean Zimmermann Trial

Read about it at Minneapolis Confidential.

Olson's PRT Pod Pal Dean Zimmermann's Trial BeginsToday

I'll be blogging about the Zimmermann trial at Minneapolis Confidential.

More Personal Rapid Transit Wackiness

While they destroyed the ecology that sustained them, the Easter Islanders hewed enormous stone heads and dragged them miles to ceremonial sites. The stone heads remain, but the civilization that created them is extinct .

In present-day America men build gadget transportation models in their suburban garages and drag them to City Hall parking lots like this wacky Minnesota gadgetbhaner.



The J-POD web site is loads of fun. I especially liked the letters of support from Hennepin County Comissioner Mark Stenglein and Minneapolis Council President Barbara Johnson.

But one outspoken gadgetbahner disagrees:

Hello BillJamesMN. I don't believe that JPods or Personal automated mobility are worthy of Wikipedia articles. I did a Google search on "personal automated mobility" and got zero results, so this does not seem to be a common term. Also, JPods has been added and deleted at least a few times, and I can almost guarantee this latest version will get deleted too; see this note for a nice explanation of why it keeps getting deleted.
A Google search on JPods seems to return nothing meaningful except the JPods website, which contains very few details about the project. It seems to be a very immature concept at this point. But I may have missed something, so if there are reliable sources of detailed information on JPods, please point me to them. If reliable sources exist then maybe a short note on JPods could be added to the main PRT article. A Transportation Enthusiast 03:41, 30 July 2006

Why does A.T.E. stand in the way of innovation?

Message to the Greens From Taxi 2000 CEO

Somebody sent me this message forwarded to the Minneosta Green Party list by a Green PRTista:

The Ed Anderson era at Taxi 2000 is over. Ed felt that PRT is a superior technology to LRT and other forms of transit. It is his opinion and he has right to it. From my perspective, I believe that PRT and LRT can be complimentary technologies. However, PRT has to prove itself by moving beyond concept to reality. That is the path that Taxi 2000 is currently on. We are about to move forward with a project and will let the results of this
effort speak for us. I' not interested in attaching any ones character based on the positions they hold. I would expect that when facts create an outcome, we can embrace them and expand our view of what is doable. Until then maybe even Ken Avidor can restrain his "ad hominem" comments about me and Taxi 2000. Thanks for including me in your discussion. Morrie.

A few interesting points about that message;

1) Morrie Anderson isn't going to score any points with the hardline PRTistas unless he says LRT is a "19th Century technology" or the tool of Satan or something like that.

2) The hardline PRTistas insist that PRT is more than a concept. They say PRT has nothing to prove.

3) I can't recall making "ad hominem comments" (personal attacks) about Morrie Anderson. Perhaps Morrie Anderson is confusing me with J. Edward Anderson who called the current CEO of Taxi 2000 a "liar , deceiver and slanderer".

4) If Taxi 2000 is planning a new project, why doesn't it say so on the Taxi 2000 web site? Where are the press releases?

Taxi 2000 Corporation Deathwatch

Taxi 2000 web site has not posted anything new on its "news" page since 2004.

The page link for the Taxi 2000 Advisory Board is broken.

There's a Google cache of the Advisory Board page here.

Does David Morris of the ILSR still support PRT?



How long can Taxi 2000 stay in business when it has no business?

Has the IRS Taken Action Against the CPRT?

Read more at Lloydletta.

"Personal Rapid Transit Is Not A Working Transportation Technology"

From an essay about PRT:

I am in the technology business. And sometimes when a technology is not accepted or is not used, someone says, "yeah, BetaMax vs VHS", like it was just a matter of marketing. But PRT is not that type of technology. It is more like the blimp, a transportation technology that was a bag of gas that just did not work for the purpose it was used.

What is PRT? A forty year old concept for a system of autonomous vehicles that can go to multiple destinations on demand, on a track or guideway. Techo-cultists are fascinated by it, a Jetsonesque technology that has its own german joke word "gadgetbahn". Like most cults it has a core of true believers and the more sinister quacks and scammers that prey upon them. Right wing nutcases back the PRT technology movement, they know it will never be built and PRT proposals can block or dismantle real public transit infrastructure and systems. Occasionally you will see left wing fantasy loonies who want to transform the world into a Futurama cartoon back PRT schemes. All the PRT backers say "if only", if only there were politicians to back a real big system it would work, if only there were funding, if only....

Read more HERE.

Taxi 2000's Landlord is a Big Contributor to Michele Bachmann

Thomas Kordonowy is a big contributer to Michele Bachmann. Michele Bachmann is a big promoter of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT)

Tom Kordonowy recently retired from Steiner Development. The company's current CEO is David Kordonowy.

Steiner Development manages the office complex in Fridley where the Taxi 2000 Corporation has its offices.

Thomas Kordonowy is also the interim CEO of the Center for the American Experiment.

Minvolved had an interesting post on Tom Kordonowy.

There's more about Kordonowy and Bachmann over at Dump Bachmann.

Ian Bicking Responds: "...it's probably not right to say Dean was framed"

In a previous post. I reported that Ian Bicking had commented on my Twin Cities Daily Planet article that former Minneapolis Councilman Dean Zimmermann was "framed". Here is Ian Bicking's comment:

Of course, my comment was largely speculative, I don't know the details. The charges against Dean Zimmerman are very suspicious, and based on really flimsy evidence, but I shouldn't have implied any particulars, as I don't know any particulars at all.

Of course, it's not that speculative to say that the DFL hates the Green Party, especially in Minneapolis where it would otherwise be a one party city. The way the redistricting was done -- putting two incumbant Democrats against the two incumbant Green Party members -- was an obvious effort to stop the Green Party.

Also, it's probably not right to say Dean was "framed" at all; instead, it would be better to say that the charges against him are absurd and flimsy, the details makes no sense, and it was all just a snow job to hurt him in his reelection campaign. I don't know if that qualifies as being framed, or is just relying on the poor reporting of journalists who would pay no attention to the details of the charges.

First, I thank Mr. Bicking for his response.

Dean Zimmermann faces some serious charges. He has a right to a fair trial and he has a right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. All I know about the U.S. Government's charges against Zimmermann is what I've read and heard in the media. I will not comment here on the Government's charges against Zimmermann before the trial.

However, Democrats also deserve to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. I have seen no evidence that Democrats hate Greens. To the contrary, I have seen Democrats being very friendly to Greens... when Senate candidate Michael Cavlan visited the Drinking Liberally function this month, he was treated very well.

The Greens have been flinging wild, tin-foil-hat charges at DFL officeholders for some time and I think it's time they cut it out and admit the sad truth - the 5th District Green Party itself is largely responsible for its own defeats at the polls.

Redistricting alone did not defeat Dean Zimmermann in Ward 6. Neither did the investigation. My impression at the time was the FBI investigation gave Zimmermann a boost among younger voters and older lefties who believed the rumors that Zimmermann was framed.

After the 2001 election, Zimmermann turned his back on community activists and gave his support to powerful institutions and influential businessmen. Here is a list of Dean's environmental and ethical lapses in office. When I was in the Green Party, I asked that they look into Zimmermann's actions at City Hall... for instance, voting to remove two homes in my neighborhood for a parking lot (the demolition began on Earth Day). Other Minneapolis activists left the Green Party in part because of Zimmermann's ethically-challenged behavior and the inability of the Minnesota Green Party to respond to activists' concerns. The Greens are now having trouble getting signatures to put their candidates' names on ballots for state elections.

If the Greens cannot win elections, why are they attacking the DFL? Who benefits from charges that the DFL framed Zimmermann? Why are there still some Greens who continue to promote Personal Rapid Transit when the last PRT vote in the legislature revealed that PRT serves only as a stalking horse for right-wing, anti-transit Republican to bash rail transit? Who does it help to repeat the right-wing lies about the Central Corridor LRT and Northstar rail lines?

You have only to look at the picture below to see who these Green PRTistas are helping.

Jeral Poskey's New PRT Venture

A reader sent me a link to Jeral Poskey's new PRT company, Da Vinci Global Services.

I saw Mr. Poskey at Minneapolis City Hall, March 26, 2004... Dean Zimmermann and Mark Olson were making their PRT pitch to the Minneapolis City Council. Standing at the side of the room and looking very out of place, were two Young Republican-type fellows in business suits with American flag lapel pins. One of them was Jeral Poskey.



Here's Poskey's description of how he decided to join the PRT flim-flam:

I became interested in PRT in 1990, when I read a short article on the topic. I followed the field for years, first as a student and then later as a Congressional Aide in Washington. It became clear to me that PRT was inevitable and that it would be explosive once it hit the market. I determined that the best role I could play would be to go to business school at a place where innovation was valued, and I came to Stanford.

After Stanford, Poskey moved to Minneapolis to work for the Taxi 2000 Corporation.

One day, Jeral Poskey drove over to Ed Anderson's house to pick up a Taxi 2000 computer from the home of Ed Anderson who had just left the company he founded to start yet another PRT company (PRT International). Poskey discovered that the hard drive had been tampered with and company files were missing. Poskey managed to recover the files from the hard drive and discovered e-mails Ed Anderson had sent before and after announcing he left Taxi 2000. Those e-mails were included in affidavits when Ed Anderson was sued by Taxi 2000. You can read those emails here.



After the lawsuit, Taxi 2000 settled into its current moribund state and Jeral Poskey moved on to become board chairman of the Advanced Transit Association.

Jeral Poskey has another gig... selling ads for the Congressional Softball League website.

How sad that Mr. Poskey, unlike many Stanford graduates has ended up a bottom-feeder in Lake Woebegone.

I have a suggestion for Mr. Poskey on how to turn his PRT lemon into PRT lemonade... use his inside knowledge of Taxi 2000 to write a book about the PRT flim-flam.

With PRT's bizarre cast of characters, I'm sure it would be lots of fun to read... maybe a bestseller.

Personal Rapid Transit in Derby, England

Last month it was +Wellington's turn on the PRT merry-go-round. This month, the BBC reports that ATS is pitching ULTra to Derby, England.

The PRTistas are always trying to get some government agency or city council to "study" PRT. The number of cities that have been approached by PRT proponents over the last thirty years is huge and how many of them have PRT systems?.... none.

When the PRTistas find a gullible alderman or legislator to sponsor a resolution to "consider" the feasibility of PRT in their ward, county, city... out goes the press releases. The media publishes a variation on the "gee-whiz it looks like the Jetsons" theme article which gets linked on the dozens of PRT websites where the happy news helps them bash LRT and finance their phony PRT companies.

This University of MInnesota web page has a breathless description of the Raytheon PRT project for Rosemount Illinois:

As soon as next year, Raytheon hopes to take the next step in deploying a PRT layout design to service a conference center and hotel complex at Rosemount near O'Hare Airport. The five-kilometer layout, with its eight stations and 45 cars, would carry up to 2,000 passengers per hour to and from the Chicago Regional Transportation Authority's Blue Line rail transit station.

...and...

If the Rosemount project succeeds, the city of SeaTac, Washington, says it will consider spending more than $300 million to buy up to 265 cars and build 12 to 18 miles of guideway, linking 40 hotels, parking lots, and car-rental agencies in and around the booming Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Several other transportation authorities are keeping their eyes on the Raytheon project as well.

What happened to the Raytheon PRT? It went bust... costing the taxpayers over $22 million. But, that puff piece on Raytheon's PRT will live forever in cyberspace.

Here's a website for Skyloop. Is Skyloop still a going concern?

Nope..it was voted down in 2001 after a study found many serious flaws in the PRT design. That study cost the taxpayers in the Cincinnati area $625,000.

But, Skyloop is listed on Wikipedia as if folks in Cincinatti can expect to hop on a pod any day now.

Here's a PRT project that the PRTistas won't mention on their web sites... hmmmm... why won't they?

Welcome "Oil is for Sissies" Readers!!!

Oil is for Sissies is a great blog with a focus on bicycling. "Jim" has this astute observation in his post about Dump Mark Olson:

I suspect that the PRT advocates don't really want PRT, as much as they want to hinder efforts to construct LRT lines by arguing for "alternatives".

Jim is amazed at the comments I get from the PRTistas:

The funny thing is that I sort of remember hearing of PRT once or twice, but I barely knew what it is until now, and I had no idea that its supporters were so rabid.

PRTistas used to be more militant. They used to disrupt meetings.

A few years back my wife and I were giving a talk at Macalester College about how to visualize and depict sustainable communities. A PRTista started yelling and screaming at us and threw some Taxi 2000 leaflets at us. I later learned from other transit advocates had their meetings disrupted in a similar way. They are better behaved now (except on the internet).

Jim has this to say about Mark Olson:

At any rate, I don't know much about Mark Olson except that his web page kind of scares me, especially the part about "Rebuilding foundational principles that made america great!". In my experience, people who use that sort of rhetoric are usually as far removed from "foundational principles" as they are from proper capitalization.

Exactly. Mark Olson, like his theocratic counterpart in the Minnesota Senate Michele Bachmann, pushes the wacky ideas of Michael Chapman and David Barton who says that the founding fathers were theocrats like Mark Olson and Michele Bachmann. That's about as believable as... expecting that homeowners would consent to cutting down half the trees on their streets for an elevated PRT guideway with a clear view into their bedroom windows.

Mark Olson's PRT Pal Zimmermann: "On the Cutting Edge of Things"

In the weeks to come, Zimmermann's supporters will say Dean was framed. How credible is that? How credible is Mark Olson's PRT pal Dean Zimmermann?

From the old MINNEAPOLIS CONFIDENTIAL blog:

CJ's Strib column four years ago:

Dean Zimmermann's black eyes are "pretty good ones," said the Park and Recreation Board member who was the highest vote-getter in the Minneapolis Sixth Ward race for City Council. He got them early Saturday when he was defending his East Phillips neighborhood against people busting out car windows. "Sometime around [1:30 a.m.] we heard this bang, bang and I looked out my kitchen window, saw these [two] kids beating the windows out of a neighbor's car. I called the police, then went out to try to delay their departure. I was successful in doing that," said Zimmermann. His delay tactic involved following the kids down the alley. "Kind of got them to turn around and talk to me," he said. "Don't really remember what I said, just anything that would get them to react and turn around." Although Zimmermann wanted "to keep a little distance between us, at a certain point they made a little whistle and three other compatriots came in behind me. They started picking up stones to throw, and I thought that would be a good time to retreat.`' Zimmermann said he ran into his neighbor's yard and they followed. "They kind of all jumped me at once," he said. With fists and a chair they "whomped me." Other neighbors came out, and "they took off. The cops nabbed one of them. So the mission was successful. We have to press charges, as they say, and we're planning to do that." Zimmermann, who retells the story in his low-key style, decided he should see a doctor Tuesday because "these just don't seem to be clearing up at all. You know, I've had black eyes before. Not a big deal." Really? "I've had a life of experience. I'm not a timid wallflower. If you're on the cutting edge of things, sometimes you get cut." And sometimes those cuts come with "raccoon eyes," said his partner and campaign manager Jenny Heiser: "He looks so awful." She's not looking great either. A girl in the group blackened her eyes.

Here's Ed Felein's account in Southside Pride

When Dean Zimmermann decided to run for a seat on the City Council he didn't think he'd run into gang trouble in his own backyard.

    On Sept. 15, at about 1:30 a.m., he was awakened by some loud noises in his alley. He got up and looked out and saw some kids beating windows out of a neighbor's car. There had been a number of incidents of windows being broken out of cars in the East Phillips neighborhood recently.

    One of the kids had double zeros on the back of his jacket, Zimmermann said. He called the police, described the situation, and said he was going out after them (thinking this would encourage the police to come more quickly). He went out with the intention of delaying the kids until the proper authorities arrived.

    “I danced behind them, but probably not at quite a prudent distance, talking to them, 'Why don't you guys leave us alone?' I was about 150 feet away. They answered back, 'Why don't you go home, old man?' Then, they gave a gang signal, whistling, and three guys came up behind me throwing rocks. I turned around and ran at one of the guys. I tackled him. But the other four jumped me, and that's how I got the black eyes. Some women neighbors came out, and the young men beat them also. The kids took off. Twenty minutes after they were called, the police showed up. They were able to pick up one of the kids. He was 13....

There's more, ending with this howler...

Zimmermann said he promises big changes in the way the city deals with crime if he's elected to the city council from the 6th ward in November.

Perhaps the weirdest detail of this very weird tale is that both Dean Zimmermann and Jenny Heiser, now Mrs. Zimmermann sported "raccoon eyes"-- two black eyes each. What are the chances of Dean and Jenny receiving this identical injury?

There is another possible explanation for how two people can have identical "raccoon eyes":

‘Black eyes’ and bruising. The kinetic energy from a blow which is transmitted through the head and brain is expelled through soft tissue, eg. the eyes, and behind the ears (‘Battle’s sign’). Bruising at these points indicates that the head has suffered exposure to considerable force.

It should be remembered that just because a casualty has two black eyes (Raccoon eyes), this does not necessarily mean that he or she has been struck in the face. ‘Raccoon eyes’ may indicate a forceful impact elsewhere on the skull.

Sounds more like they got into a car crash or were butting heads like goats.

Nah... raccoon-eyed crime-busters are way more believable....... especially just before an election....

Personal Rapid Transit: Follow the Money, Money, Money...

Once upon a time in Redmond, Washington:

My friend Dave Maymudes ... points out that over the years, as Microsoft employees got rich from stock options, people left the company in waves....

So he got rich, then what?

Seattle-based David Maymudes studied number theory, computer science and theoretical physics before spending a decade as a software architect and development lead at Microsoft. In 2000, David headed in to the outfield to work on PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) systems, studying the mathematical theory underlying them and the computer software necessary to implement them. He and his cohorts have come up with a notion that is extraordinarily elegant, reasonably priced, and at first glance, quite nuts. See what you think! http://www.gettherefast.org/

David Maymudes is on the Taxi 2000web site.

David Maymudes also has a PRT-supporting foundation.

Maymudes is also a member with some other PRT promoters such as Emory Bundy and Jerry Schneider in CETA which opposes LRT and commuter rail.

... and the creationist think tank Discovery Institute's Cascadia Project invited David Maymudes to give a talk about PRT (the event also offered a "selection of regional wine and cheeses)... Microsofties and Discovery Institute... hmmmm. ...

Here's Maymudes doing what PRTistas always do, bash light rail transit:

"Light Rail gets justified a lot by saying "well, we need to have *some* alternative to driving, so we should make this investment, even if it ends up costing a huge amount for each new transit passenger." For a potentially much better alternative, which may really happen in the next 3-5 years somewhere, you should learn about Personal Rapid Transit. For a video of what it would look like on the Microsoft Redmond Campus, see http://www.bettercampus.org or http://www.cities21.org/Redmond.htm"

Here's a picture of Maymudes on the board of the "Advanced Transit Association" without anything to say for himself:



What a waste.

Why didn't he just use his money to buy a yacht or a baseball team or his own island?

DFL Plot to Frame Dean Zimmermann?

Ian Bicking, son of Dave Bicking, Green Party candidate for Minneapolis City Council left a comment on my Twin Cities Daily Planet article about PRT. Here's an excerpt:

The situation with Taxi 2000 is very unfortunate, and their infighting has done us all a diservice. Dean Zimmerman's framing by the FBI was also unfortunate for PRT; I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with his support for PRT, but more reflected on how strongly the DFL hates the Green Party, and probably the result of his anti-federal-government policies as a city council member.

The DFL hates the Green Party? The DFL got Zimmermann framed?

What a story!!!!

Why haven't the right-wing bloggers picked up on this?

Is Personal Rapid Transit Losing its Futuristic Appeal Among Gadgetbahners?

The 30-year story of PRT is a lot like the plot of the Mel Brooks movie "The Producers". In order for PRT do its job as a stalking horse for bashing rail transit, it cannot ever be built. The moment PRT attempts to leave the shiny, futuristic computer animations and attempts to become a real, live transportation system, its flaws become obvious... and with its little wheels that look like they came off of a boat trailer, PRT looks downright dorky.



From an essay posted on CETA member Jerry Schneider's silly gadget transportation website:

The author of the essay, a proponent of something he calls Multimodal Personal Transport (MPT) takes a look at PRT and delivers the following verdict on the Nixon-era Morgantown PRT (more accurately identified as group rapid transit - GRT) and the much ballyhooed ULTra:

The Morgantown GRT should be classified as a variant of the high cost APMs, with almost no significance for economical advanced transport design.

ULTra is really an automated automobile running on a curbed roadway, which barely qualifies as a "guideway". It really should be classified with other low-speed, short-range automated variants of automobiles that are not capable of running on a high speed guideway. Thus there is really NOTHING happening with PRT, other than feasibility studies by its proponents. For the reasons I mentioned above,there is also no reason to believe that anything more will happen with classical PRT than has happened in the past.

Are we going to see Mark Olson switching from PRT to MPT?

As the voters in 16b fill up their tanks with $3 a gallon gasoline, I hope they think about the bizarre and bogus scheme that Mark Olson has been pushing at the legislature with Dean Zimmermann.

Is Personal Rapid Transit a Cult?

Not all cults are religious. Kay Miller wrote about a political cult called the "O" in a April 6, 2003 Star Tribune article:

People tend to think of cults as primarily religious, but the O. fits the classic definition with its clandestine structure, charismatic leader and all-controlling environment, said Janja Lalich, author of "Captive Hearts, Captive Minds." Lalich is an assistant sociology professor at California State University-Chico who has studied the O. She considers it a cult.

...and one member of the "O" was Mark Olson's PRT buddy Dean Zimmermann:

Minneapolis City Council Member Dean Zimmermann, who was briefly an O. member, agrees. "People wanted a dramatic change in our society. And this co-op organization with the left-wing dogma exploited that deep, burning desire to transform our society in a way that would make it better for all and not just the privileged.

"We looked to Cuba, which had health care for everyone. We looked to China, which eradicated starvation. We thought we could transform our society and eliminate the chasm between the rich and the poor," Zimmermann said.

Sounds like the stuff Zimmermann says about PRT "transforming the transportation system".

What they did see was an amazingly destructive force as the O. infiltrated existing food co-ops, antiwar and feminist organizations in the 1970s.

"These people were incredibly driven by ideological purity," Cox said. "They believed that to allow the co-ops to be this elite hippie, anarchist thing would detract from their own work. They were fairly ruthless in their desire for business gain."

Although the O. started its own businesses to prepare for the coming revolution, its leaders viewed the growing food co-op movement as an economic opportunity, Cox said. Late one Sunday night in May 1975, O. members armed with iron pipes took over the People's Warehouse, which distributed food to all the co-ops, fomenting Minneapolis' "co-op wars," Cox said. O. members later firebombed an opponent's truck and were believed to have a cache of weapons stored on the South Side of Minneapolis, Cox said.

The O. divided what had been one of the nation's most vibrant co-op communities, leaving it in disarray.

"I know people today who are still bitter about what the C.O. did to them and the co-op movement, and that was 30 years ago," Cox said.

None of the O.'s co-ops survived, Cox said. "The revolution that they wanted to create never happened."

Sounds like what Dean Zimmermann and his fellow PRTistas did to the 5th District Green Party.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Welcome City Pages Readers!

Corey Anderson at the City Pages Blotter:

Ken Avidor is not a big fan of personal rapid transit, nor its advocate in the legislature, and blogs about it at Dump Mark Olson.

Check out the City Pages list of blogs at the Minnesota-Based Blog Directory.

More About Personal Rapid Transit Promoter Dean Zimmermann's Trial

A January 19th press release from the 5th District Green Party says the following about the indictment of Mark Olson's pal Dean Zimmermann:

The legal process is long and complicated but the Green Party upholds the basic tenet of our democratic system that Zimmermann is innocent until proven guilty.

However...

Any public official taking an envelope with large sums of cash is not acceptable behavior even if there was no intention to be involved in bribery and the public official was the target of an elaborate sting operation. No matter what the intentions (or lack of intentions) of such actions, they bring doubt about what the transactions are intended to accomplish.

Over at the Zimmermannforjustice.org web site:

What Dean needs is the testimonials from those he has helped over the years!

I wonder if Mark Olson, Michele Bachmann, Ed Anderson and Dean's other gadgetbahn buddies are going to send in their testimonials?

As always, the trademark Zimmermann request for money, money money :

The Zimmermann for Justice defense committee is holding a potluck fundraiser for the trial expenses. . See the invitation, from the defense committee,(below my signature) that I am forwarding. Even though I have a public defender, a trial like this runs up a lot of expenses. Come, enjoy a great backyard picnic.

...help Zimmermann and his family pay the staggering cost of mounting an effective legal defense].

If Zimmermann has a public defender, why does he need money for "trial expenses"? Why doesn't he mortgage his home like most people?

Somebody forwarded this letter from Dean Zimmerman:

a LETTER from DEAN ZIMMERMANN

Dear Friends:

I am getting a lot of questions from people wanting to know what’s going on with my case – and what are you doing now? So in answer to all your questions:

My trial starts Monday July 31st , 9am, in the Mpls Federal Court House in front of Judge Ann Montgomery. The trial should last 2 weeks or so. I am confident we will have a favorable outcome, but you never know.
Visitors are welcome in the court room. . My lawyer is Dan Scott, who was head of the Federal Public Defenders for some 20 years or so.

The Zimmermann for Justice defense committee is holding a potluck fundraiser for the trial expenses. . See the invitation, from the defense committee,(below my signature) that I am forwarding. Even
though I have a public defender, a trial like this runs up a lot of expenses. Come, enjoy a great backyard picnic.

As for work, I am back in business as Southside Jack of all Trades. Class A handyperson and home repair specialist. I am spending most of my time and energy working and preparing for the trial. After the trial, I hope to get a little more active in politics again....

Jenny is working for the Mpls Blooms Project (formerly Blooming Blvds) and she has started a home cleaning business and is still looking for more clients.

The trees need watering. The Park Board has trouble keeping up with watering newly planted trees, say all those less that 3 years old. When it gets as dry and hot as it now is, the young trees can get stressed.

If you have a young tree on your boulevard, pull out your hose and water it. Your grand children will thank you.

Peace,
Dean Zimmermann

"Jenny" I'm assuming, refers to Zimmermann's wife Jenny Heiser who posted this hilarious message to the Minneapolis Issues October 29, 2005.



Learn more about the PRT scam at the PRT is a Joke web site.

Trial for Mark Olson's Personal Rapid Transit Pal Zimmermann Begins July 31st

The spin cycle has begun for the guy who worked so tirelessly with Mark Olson to promote Personal Rapid Transit in Minnesota. The following statement is part of an invitation to a potluck fundraiser for Zimmermann:

REMEMBER THIS: Dean has stood & spoken out for all of us – all of his life – about the environment, the Iraq War, organic food co-ops, oppressed communities in Minneapolis, the U.S. and the world, civil rights, human rights, economic justice, social justice, increased democracy, and workers rights. Dean needs all of us to stand with him NOW!

Yeah, right...

Read what Joshua Frank wrote in the Counterpunch article Greens and Republicans.

Here's a record of the stuff Zimmermann did to the environment etc. when he was the 6th Ward Councilman.

A reflection on Zimmermann's sorry accomplishments in office.

Then there is this interesting quote from the PULSE article on PRT "The Road Less Traveled: The pros and cons of personal rapid"

Zimmermann’s party, the Green Party, is however, apparently distancing itself from Zimmermann. Annie Young of the party said, “This is not a Green Party issue; this is Dean’s project. I’m concerned about his relationship to Taxi 2000, and about the time he’s spending on the project and whether he’s meeting the needs of the people in his ward. There are potentially some good things that could come from it, and I see what the point is but I’m not sure the timing is right. There are also a lot of questions about it, like why are the Republicans so interested in it? There are a lot of good alternatives that we should be working on, and there are so many transportation needs to be addressed. I’m just not sure this is the best one.”

Like the zombified chanting AM 950 Air America listeners were forced to listen to on Zimmermann's relentless campaign radio commercials, we will, no doubt be subjected to a mindless public relations blitz that ignores all the facts about the ethics-challenged former councilmann.

How to Win Friends With Personal Rapid Transit

I just received this desperate plea from a member of the Advanced Transit Association:

Lawrence J. Fabian
Trans.21 Boston

Attached is a report summarzing several years of analysis of PRT applications by seasoned professionals. It's something that should not be dismissed in a superficial, knee-jerk way.

I hope you look at it with an open mind.

Sincerely,

Lawrence J. Fabian
Trans.21 Boston

Uh, Larry. If you want to see "superficial knee-jerk" go to one of the gazillions of PRT web sites and read the nasty anti-LRT screeds like the Skytran site... y'know Skytran?... the PRT system that is 15 times cheaper than LRT because it can be built with a guideway-extruding robot?

Michael Cavlan and the Personal Rapid Transit Hoax

Michael Cavlan is the Green Party-endorsed candidate for Senator in Minnesota.

Michael Cavlan is also a supporter of PRT.. well, sort of...

I got a chance to interview Michael Cavlan at the Drinking Liberally function at the 331 Club yesterday.

Here is the interview:



The last time I saw Michael Cavlan was at a CPRT meeting at the Saint Louis Park City Hall. Cavlan was operating a camera while Dean Zimmermann prepared for his big pitch for Taxi 2000 at City Hall, March 24, 2004. On a table in the room I saw a stack of literature from Mark Olson. This is Olson's leaflet:



Critics of Cavlan have called him a "conspiracy theorist". Michael Cavlan had this to say :

There will also be those who will try to label this campaign as conspiracy 
theorists because we have called for an independent investigation into 
the issues of election fraud, the death of Paul Wellstone and the 9/11 
Commission Investigation Report. Again, we intend to flip that. First, 
we are saying simply that we have questions. We are not accusing 
anybody or group of these things. We simply have the courage to ask the 
uncomfortable questions. Our constituents, having these same questions, 
are depending upon us to have this courage and look to us to shoulder 
that responsibility. The corporate powers in charge of our government 
will attempt to smear us. Why should we give them any credibility at 
all? They have already proven their untrustworthiness.

I asked him if he is wiling to help me expose the PRT hoax that Dean Zimmermann, Michele Bachmann, Ray Vandeveer and Mark Olson have used as a stalking horse to stop LRT and commuter rail in Minnesota with the assistance of a highway industry. Cavlan asked me for proof. Here it is.... E-mails from the affidavits of the Taxi 2000 lawsuit against Ed Anderson between Anderson and a Charles Michael at the highway engineering firm Short Eliot Hendrickson that refer to financial assistance and some legislative hijinks. Taxi 2000 also shares a lobbyist with SEH. SEH was the engineering firm for the 35W Access Project a highway expansion project for which Zimmermann claimed neutrality.... an odd position for a "Green".

Cavlan and other Greens could help progressive candidates like Jim Huhtala, Patty Wetterling and David Francis by helping me expose Mark Olson, Bachmann, Vandeveer and Dean Zimmermann's PRT hoax... will they?

The 2004 Sierra Club North Star Resolution on PRT

Read it here.

North Star Chapter position on Personal Rapid Transit, passed April, 2004
Whereas regional transit needs to be high speed, high capacity, cost-efficient, geographically comprehensive, uniform and safe in order to build ridership;
Whereas Minnesota is about to open its first light rail line and there is strong popular support for its first commuter rail line;
Whereas clean air, clean water and sensible urban development depend in part on and result in part from moving as many people as possible using as few resources as possible with feasible technologies that will attract riders;
Whereas Minnesota has historically underfunded transit;
Whereas no Personal Rapid Transit proposal has yet received majority financial backing from any government;
Whereas elevated concrete guideway on existing public right of way is regarded as incompatible by most residential and small business neighborhoods;
Whereas elevated concrete guideway threatens the urban forest of affected areas if routed along existing, tree-lined streets and roads;
Whereas elevated concrete guideway may preclude future forestation of public right-of-way in dense urban areas;
Whereas public safety and protection of public property requires a minimum level of manned presence on transit systems;
Whereas, automated vehicles not owned by individuals do not replicate the advantages of the personal, private automobile;
For these and other reasons,
Be It Resolved, the North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club
(1) supports light rail and commuter rail as the standards for regional transit in the Twin Cities Metro Area;
(2) does not believe that automated, small-cab vehicles on fixed public guideway can provide the cost-efficiency or environmental benefits of large-capacity vehicles on fixed public guideway;
(3) does not believe that automated, small-cab vehicles on fixed public guideway replicate the proprietary attractions of the privately owned, controlled, personal automobile and consequently cannot substitute themselves, in open competition, for any meaningful share of the current private vehicle fleet;
(4) supports the concentration of available public funding on initial and expansion legs of light and commuter rail;
(5) opposes diversion of scarce public transit dollars, either capital or operating, to the development and operation of automated, small-cab vehicles on fixed public guideway for general transit purposes;
(6) does not oppose the study and possible use of automated, small-cab vehicles on fixed public guideway for limited geographic and functional sites such as airports or large educational or business campuses, as long as such systems are financed by the entities being served.

Here's another resolution against PRT funding from Transit for Livable Communities.

Personal Rapid Transit Follies: One More Ride on the Merry-Go-Round?

David Gow, the silly PRTista who has a blog about me that spells my name with asterisks has a breathless announcement on his Seattle PRT site that Ed Anderson wants to give the PRT flim-flam one more try:

Some more information has been received over the e-transom about Dr. J. Edward Anderson 's new company, PRT International.

The original February news release announcing formation of the company imparted that it would perform "forward planning, design and development" of PRT systems. Tantalizing hints, but what are the details?

The answer is that Anderson intends to create a new PRT design, another entry in the suddenly growing PRT sector that already includes ULTra, Vectus, Taxi 2000/Skyweb, Skycab and MicroRail, among others.

"Growing PRT sector"?!?! What a joke!!! Here comes some more techno-mumbo-jumbo:

Anderson described his test track as a 409 x 632-foot oval with 2100 feet of elevated guideway, one large curve, two small curves, and a siding with station/maintenance building. Vehicles will test at speeds up to 35 mph in the large curve and deceleration to 20 mph in the small curves. Six acres will be required although Anderson writes that land not needed for PRT infrastructure can be used "for other purposes."

To do the work he intends to contract a number of engineering firms to develop the final plans and specifications for the vehicles and test track. Each firm will specialize, working separately on the guideway, chassis, cabin, station facility and control system.

He believes he can do it because he has already done it once, designing Skyweb Express and supervising the prototype's construction.

"I can get the whole job done for under $10 million," Anderson wrote. In addition to his Skyweb experience he cited availability of adequate design software as reasons for his confidence.

Yeah, sure... we've heard it all before, Ed.

There isn't even a web site for Ed Anderson's PRT International... just a domain name.

Greens, Right-Wing Republicans and "Light Rail Hysteria"

I also posted about this at Lloydletta.

Jannice Eisen writes about LRT hysteria in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Most of us find that there are certain topics of conversation we need to avoid in social situations if we want to keep things civil. Abortion and gay marriage are two that come immediately to mind.

But one subject is unique to the Milwaukee area in the frenzied response it prompts: light rail.

I've been watching the light rail battle with bemusement for the past decade, and I just don't understand why the topic is so radioactive. We can't even discuss it rationally: Ordinarily sensible people start to turn red and foam at the mouth.

Janice Eisen is wrong about only one thing; LRT hysteria is not a local phenomenon. It's a national phenomenon created in part by right-wing and libertarian anti-transit organizations. Even with the success of the Hiawatha LRT, there are still hold-outs of LRT-haters in Minnesota... mostly on the right-wing and left-wing fringes.

Last week, the Green Party's Eddie Felien and Republican right-winger Phil Krinkie showed up at the Met Council to speak against the Central Corridor LRT line. It was no surprise for me. I've known for some time that many of the Green Party members have attitudes toward rail transit that is not very different from the right-wing Republicans.

I have seen how the subject of LRT can turn some Greens totally irrational. Last year at a forum, a Green Party member started screaming at me that "Light rail will kill people!". Former Councilman Dean Zimmermann, who worked closely with right-winger Mark Olson on PRT, also parroted that line. That hysterical nonsense about LRT killing people was repeated at least 3 times in Felien's vituperative PULSE article on the Central Corridor.

Transportation will be an issue in many elections this Fall. Michele Bachmann, Ray Vandeveer and Mark Olson have targeted LRT and the Northstar Commuter line. How does it help Patty Wetterling, David Francis and Jim Huhtala when PULSE has advertisements on AM 950 saying LRT is dangerous and expensive? When are Green Party members going to stop helping right-wing Republicans defeat progressive Democrats?

Bachmann Supporter Westover Joins Felein in Bashing Central Corridor LRT

Read about it at Lloydletta.

Ed Felein's Anti-LRT Article Part 2

Over at the Minneapolis forum, David Greene fisks Felein's anti-LRT article.

Some highlights:

Felein: There has been no public discussion or debate over the alternatives to that route.

Greene: False. This Corridor has been discussed _ad_nauseum_. It's been on the planning table literally for decades. There were many public meetings and hearings about it over the last couple of years. I know because I attended them.

Felein: It will probably kill people. The Hiawatha line killed two people its first year of operation...

Greene: Both accidents were just that: accidents. In both cases the people ignored warning signals and crossed the tracks illegally. Certainly these were tragedies but to say that we should halt rail transit on University because of them is irresponsible.

Felein: Ask any motorist trying to cross Hiawatha Avenue if LRT has sped up their traffic.

Greene: ...transit corridors are not meant to speed up traffic, reduce congestion or improve the driving experience in any way whatsoever. They are meant to provide transportation options for people.

Felein, Zimmermann and others in the Green Party have taken positions on transportation that are opposite of the mainstream transit and environmental groups like the Sierra Club North Star and Transit for Livable Communities, both of which support the Central Corridor LRT.

When it comest to transportation policy, Felein and other Zimmermann supporters in the Green Party are not "green".

Left-Wing Wackos Join Right-Wing Wackos to Bash Rail Transit

Ed Felein, the editor and publisher of PULSE (where my comic appeared between 1999 and 2003) sounds like David Strom and Phil Krinkie in this PULSE article.... not to mention Michele Bachmann, Ray Vandeveer, and Mark Olson who are running against progressive Democrats who support rail transit (Ed's a big help).... It's ironic that after the Hiawatha Line's phenomenal success, the only people remaining who say LRT is a bad idea on University Avenue are extreme right-wingers and the few people who haven't left the Green Party.

I won't go into detail about Felein's arguments against the Central Corridor LRT line. If you've listened to Mark Olson or Olson's PRT pal Dean Zimmermann (also Ed Felein's pal), you know all the tired old complaints about congestion, scary predictions that LRT "will kill people" and comparisons between trains and buses. It always cracks me up to hear critics of LRT extol the virtues of buses... which they never ride.

The timing of the article may seem a bit odd since the Met Council approved the Central Corridor on Wednesday, the day the article was published.

I suspect that Felein wants to stake out a grandstanding position opposing the Central Corridor LRT project in a way that won't have much affect on the project, but will create a campaign issue for Farheen Hakeem who is running against Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin. Felein ran as a Green against Peter McLaughlin for Hennepin County Commissioner. Felein is one of the few people still remaining in the Green Party ( the recent Green Party state convention could only attract 87 delegates).

Hakeem could run against McLaughlin's support for highway expansion on 35W, but like her fellow Green Party member Dean Zimmermann, she would rather stake out the anti-transit, anti-environment position rather than oppose an auto-centric, environmentally harmful project. Dean Zimmermann spent much of his time in office opposing rail transit and promoting PRT with Mark Olson. Many people in the 6th ward wished Zimmermann would have spent more time opposing McLaughlin's Access Project instead.

Another reason Felein is attacking LRT at this time may have to do with Olson's pod-pal Zimmermann's indictment for extorting bribes from a developer. Zimmermann's trial is scheduled for the end of July. If Felein could manufacture opposition to transit among progressives, it can only help rehabilitate the sorry reputation of Zimmermann.

Ironically, Felein's transit-bashing public relations effort may also help Mark Olson who is running against Jim Huhtala, a strong supporter of rail transit.

You're doing a heckuva job electing progressives, Eddie!

Olson's PRT Pal Ed Anderson's Anti-Rail Transit Career

A book appeared in 2000 called "The Transportation Renaissance". It was written by a PRT fan called Edmund Rydell. He describes how Anderson and his pals got legislation passed in the early 1970's that prevented the Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) from planning for rail transit:

"...Ed and others got legislation that took away from the [Metropolitan Transit] Commission its planning function. Over 20 years later, the Twin Cities still lacks an effective transit strategy."

Personal Rapid Transit Weird Wiki Wackiness

Here's a bizarre archive of ravings from the small but noisy cult of PRT true believers on Wikipedia

If Wikipedia was a real encyclopedia instead of soapbox for crackpots, it would have only a brief, but accurate description of PRT like this one from Professor Vukan Vuchic, "Transportation for Livable Cities" (Rutgers 1999):

Here's the Uncyclopedia article about PRT... Personal Rabbit Transit



Learn more about the PRT scam at the PRT is a Joke web site.

Personal Rapid Transit and "LIM"

Always learning new stuff about the PRT hoax.

Taxi 2000's PRT pod is supposed to run on futuristic-sounding "linear induction motors" (The pod actually rides on dorky, little rubber tires). Read about the wacky inventor of LIM, Eric Roberts Laithwaite:

"Scientist who used linear motors to drive hovering trains but was then branded a crank for defying Newton."

I have a hypothesis; PRT seems to induce a magnetism ( I call it Gadgetbahnism) that pulls all sorts of crack-pots into its orbit... here's an entire archive of wacky Wikipedian PRT nonsense that validates my hypothesis:

"...And once again, please consider finding some other focus for your obsessive interest than pushing for speculative details about hypothetical transport systems."

My hypothesis about gadgetbahnism would also explain why PRT attracts nutcases from across the political spectrum.

"Maybe if we build PRT vehicles that look like giant penises..."

People ask me all the time whether PRT is for real and I tell them to just go to the PRT Yahoo sites and read the PRTistas discussing wacky stuff like moving people in "evacuated tubes"...as in this hilarious post.

Incidentally, the guy who says that evacuated tubes are "unquestionably in our future" - Bob Dunning is President of ATRA.

Republican Representative Abrams criticized Mark Olson for suggesting ATRA be consulted on the Central Corridor. I will post a movie on the web that includes that criticism of Olson and more soon.

Olson's Personal Rapid Transit: "Boondoggle"

Flashback to 2004:

Ray Vandeveer, Like Olson and Bachmann is a Right-wing PRTista Wacko

Ray Vandeveer is running for the State Senate District 52 seat left vacant by congressional candidate Michele Bachmann. Vandeveer is one of the strongest supporters of Olson's PRT scam.

T.W. Budig:

Exploring the use of personal rapid transit — small vehicles in which commuters can enter destinations on computers and be whisked here and there — is one item he’d like to examine further, said Vandeveer.

This is not futuristic; the technology exists today, he said. And why be so insistent on being tied to 150 year old technology: trains, he said. .

Forest Lake Times:

Ideas such as computer aided dispatch for buses, and Personal Rapid Transit (developed through the University of Minnesota) appear to offer more cost effective transit options.

Roll Call on Olson's Personal Rapid Transit Amendment

Take a look at the break down of the votes on Olson's 2005 PRT amendment at the Minnesota Votes web site.

It's mostly a small bunch of right-wingers like Olson and Vandeveer who vote for PRT. They got a few clueless Democrats to vote for it. (There were only 2 DFLers voting for a similar Olson PRT amendment in 2006).

Mark Olson needs to explain why 67% of his own party rejected his amendment.

The PRT Con Job Continues in New Zealand

From Tom Beard in the Wellurban blog:

....for now I just want to counter the rabid anti-public transport arguments that the promoters trot out. In particular, they claim that:

Wellingtonians have a view that public transport is "for losers" and that will not change by upgrading buses and trains."

Sound familiar?

Read more here:

Ed Anderson: Con Artist or Nutty Professor?

CPRT Seattle contact David Gow posts this on his attack blog devoted to me... at least I think it's me (he spells my name with asterisks).

"***'s newest post is hilariously tenuous--and possibly actionable!"

I suppose he means that Ed Anderson may sue me for calling him a con artist... if he does, he'll get laughed out of court.

For thirty years Anderson has convinced public officials, investors and citizens into listening to his ridiculous gadgetbahn mumbo-jumbo and investing in countless projects and studies that went nowhere. With every PRT business venture failed, he'd start a new one without fixing what was wrong with the last one. Doesn't that sound like a flim-flam man?

But maybe Ed Anderson isn't a con man. Maybe he's just an absent-minded, nutty professor.

The Taxi 2000 vs Ed Anderson lawsuit had some nutty e-mails from Ed Anderson like this one:

Ray,

This is what we have come to. The guy who is now CEO of our company is a liar, deceiver and slanderer, all with information he has obtained second hand.

Ed

...and this one:

Dear Chuck,

I am sure you have a lot of catching up to do.

Mark Olson wants to meet with us to discuss a legislative strategy. He is thinking of a bill that would deep six T2C, and I suggested that he hold off until he talks to us.

Interesting! What did Mark Olson mean by that? I thought Mark Olson was promoting Taxi 2000.

Ed Anderson's Atlantic City Casino Con Job

According to Transportation Renaissance by Edmund Rydell (Xlibris 2000) Ed Anderson tried to sell the German PRT concept Cabintaxi to Atlantic City Casinos in the late 1970's.

According to Rydell's book, the Cabintaxi deal fell through because Ed Anderson's partner turned out to be a swindler with mob connections. The book attempts to whitewash Anderson's role in the con job, but I don't buy it. Anderson is anything but a naive dupe.

The book also covers Anderson's career as a foe of rail transit. In 1970, Anderson teamed up with other Citizens League members, like Jerry Kieffer to stop plans to build rail transit in the Twin Cities. Kieffer says:

"Ed and others got legislative action that took away from the Commission its planning function. Over 20 years later, the Twin Cities still lacks an effective transit policy."

Since the 1970's, Anderson has made a career of using the PRT stalking horse to attack rail transit all over the world... and sell worthless stock in his phony PRT companies to suckers.

Here is a picture of Mark Olson and Ed Anderson:

Does Mark Olson Agree With Ann Coulter About Gay Marriage and 9/11 Widows?

Watch the video at Crooks and Liars.

Coulter said this about the 9/11 widows:

"These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by griefparrazies. I have never seen people enjoying their husband’s death so much ."

Right-wingers like Mitch Berg love Ann Coulter.

Why I Love Ann Coulter, Part II

"And that's why we need Ann Coulter . She's the catharsis our inner conservative needs, the one to go ahead just do it..."

Does Mark Olson love Ann Coulter too?

Are Republicans Throwing Mark Olson and Personal Rapid Transit Under the Bus?

My source at the state Republican convention in Minneapolis told me a Republican insider was "...making jokes about PRT...".

I predict that the Republicans will use humor to explain away Michele Bachmann's past support for PRT. That would be an excellent tactic. Bachmann sponsored a PRT bill and promoted PRT in the media, but she wasn't in as deep as Mark Olson. Bachmann has nothing to gain by promoting PRT in this election.

If my prediction is correct, I wonder how Mark Olson will feel about being thrown under the Bachmann bus?

Mark Olson is a Creationist

Eva Young has a post on Lloydletta about Mark Olson and his creationism. She makes this point:

Intelligent Design creationism is antithetical to good rigorous science education.

It's a sad fact that Mark Olson is a member of the House Education Policy and Reform Committee.

Rep. Mark Olson: "A Complete Embarrassment"

From the : mnspeak.com comments

Rep. Olson is, without a doubt, the biggest buffoon in our state legislature, and that's saying a lot....he's secretly (and sometimes not-so-secretly) laughed at, even by his own party - sometimes, ESPECIALLY by his own party. It's a well-known fact among insiders that this guy is a complete embarrassment, but he's like the old uncle who no one has the heart to tell that his fly is down at the family reunion.

End of an Era for Olson's Personal Rapid Transit Boondoggle

Read my story about the pathetic end to Mark Olson's mega-million dollar PRT boondoggle at the Twin Cities Daily Planet.

Time to End the Mark Olson Era Too

Republicans: Rep. Mark Olson is a "Chicken"

I was up in Monticello on Saturday for the 6th District Congressional Convention. Representative Mark Olson showed up, but he wasn't a delegate. I heard from a Republican party insider that many in the party consider Olson a "chicken" for not supporting any of the candidates.

Olson is definately a chicken. I went to the Capitol three times to testify against his Personal Rapid Transit bills and each time he saw me, he scratched his bill from the committee's agenda.

Olson also won't say whether he believes the earth is only 5000 years old.

Olson also has to admit he's going bald and do something about that silly comb-over.

Mark Olson's Green Party PRT Connection

The wacko fringe of the Republican Party promotes Personal Rapid Transit and the same is true of the wacko fringe of the Green Party. A reader sent me a tip about anti-LRT and Pro-PRT resolutions in the Minnesota Green Party Platform.

Go here.

Two proposals support PRT

#55 is by Margaret Beegle.

#9 is Dick Gronning's. It includes a poison pill that asks that all support for other "technologies" be stripped from the platform if the GP doesn't support PRT.

Two proposals apparently are against LRT on University.

#10 and #11.

#12 might be an anti-LRT proposal, same author as #10--it calls for the conversion of rail corridors to trails. It is curious to me that 9, 10, 11, and 12 all seem to be potentially anti-LRT provisions.

#33 supports "Commuter Rail," and repeats the poison pill language of Gronning's PRT platform proposal. Interesting.

(Dick Gronning and Margaret Beegle are with the CPRT.)

Speaking of the wacky PRT Greens, I saw Mark Olson's pal Zimmermann riding his bike today in the Mayday Parade. Dave Bicking, another PRT Green was marching in the parade... pictures of both below:

Who Are the Promoters of Personal Rapid Transit in Minnesota?

Former Mpls Councilman Dean Zimmermann-Awaiting trial for extorting bribes.

Representative Mark Olson- Thinks the Earth is only 5,000 years old.

Senator Michele Bachmann- Thinks we should consider nuking Iran.

Does Mark Olson agree with Michele Bachmann that "...we should not remove the nuclear response."? Is that a part of the Republican "Culture of Life"?

Olson's Pod Pal J. Edward Anderson: "The automobile will remain king!"

Let's go back to 1998 when the gadgetbahners were trying their best to derail the now very-successful Hiawatha LRT line. A very anti-LRT article appeared in the City Pages. The article had quotes from Taxi 2000 CEO Shef Lang who did not reveal he was the head of a PRT corporation. Even more interesting is the letter responding to the article in which J. Edward Anderson, founder and former CEO of Taxi 2000 also fails to mention his gadgetbahning connection. Read it here:

In his anti-LRT letter, Anderson proclaims that "The automobile will remain king!"

It's hard to imagine that two high-ranking officers of any corporation would fail to mention their corporation to a reporter... interesting.

Did Olson Say on the House Floor the Earth is Only 5,000 Years Old?

Letters to the Sherburne County Citizen

To The Editor,

I am writing in response to Rep. Mark Olson’s editorial accusing me of using “extremist labels”. Apparently Re. Olson is referring to a line in a speech that I gave at the Sherburne DFL county convention where I stated: “Unlike my opponent, I believe the earth is much more than 5,000 years old.”

Clearly everyone has a right to believe what they want. What’s at issue here is that Rep. Olson is on the Education Policy and Reform Committee and, therefore, he is in a position to impose his personal religious beliefs into public education policy.

In Mark’s editorial, he never indicates how old he thinks the earth actually is. This is the crux of Mr. Bye’s question of a week prior. The voters of 16B have the right to know where Rep. Olson stands. Does he believe science or religious dogma?

In a revealing statement in his editorial, Mark states he believes that “there should be no separation between church and state.” This is where Mark and I are in opposite camps. I believe that, thanks to the separation of church and state, Americans enjoy an unparalleled amount of religious and philosophical freedoms.

The Mark states in his editorial that facts should be taught in our schools. I concur. Reading on, he mentions that no one theory should be taught exclusively. I would guess that he is referring to the “theory of evolution” and trying to equate creationism as a theory. They are not both theories. Theories, by scientific definition, are backed up by scientific observation. Creationism is a religious belief.

So, Rep. Olson, was I blowing smoke at the convention or did you not say on the House floor the earth is only 5,000 years old?

Jim Huhtala

DFL endorsed candidate of HD 16B

Clear Lake, MN

Olson's letter:

To The Editor,

Much gratitude should go out to Mr. Nathan Bye for being eager to clarify issues Mr. Jim Huhtala raised as he received the DFL endorsement. I also appreciate Mr. Bye's efforts to raise the concern of candidate's using extremist labels which could be damaging to all those who have supported the Olson campaign over the years.

The liberal left and conservative right may have existed from the beginning. But using extremist labels with accusations to avoid issues, or paint unwanted perceptions, is just not appropriate. Mr. Bye is right. "This charge should not be made lightly." It actually should not be made.

People who fulfill their obligation to vote deserve the utmost respect from all candidates who run for office. So shouldn't we stick to the issues without creating concerns that no one enjoys being bantered about?

I have many Christian friends and have never met one, myself included, who believes there should not be any separation of church and state. As for what should be taught in public schools, it should be facts. If a theory is taught it must be identified as a theory. And no one theory should be taught exclusively.

My desire for clean and respectful campaigning must continue and I will focus on issues in the coming District 16B campaign. I can be reached for questions or comments at (651) 296-4237 or (763) 263-3500 and rep.mark.olson@house.mn.

Rep. Mark Olson

Big Lake, M

Huhtala Goes After Olson's PRT Boondoggle

From the Sherburne County Citizen.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Huhtala accepts DFL endorsement

Jim Huhtala accepted the DFL endorsement for the Minnesota House of Representative District 16B, which includes the northern part of Elk River and Sherburne County, at last Saturday’s Senate District 16 endorsing convention at Mille Lacs High School.

In his acceptance speech, Huhtala laid out his differences with his republican opponent and explained his priorities for legislative action.

In yet another clear jab at Republican Mark Olson, Huhtala said “I will tell the voters that separation of church and state is a good thing for both the churches it protects and the government it defends.”

In other parts of his speech he spoke on the need for helping the “80,000 children in Minnesota who will go to bed tonight without health care” and providing predictable funding for schools.

Huhtala criticized Rep. Mark Olson’s plan for spending $4,000,000 for the PRT in Duluth while opposing the North Star Corridor in his own district. “Who the heck is he representing, anyway?” Huhtala asked.

Jim Huhtala is a long-time resident of Clear Lake and a retired UPS driver. He served on the Becker School Board from 1990-2000. Jim has been married to wife Pam for 34 years with two grown sons, Todd and Scott, both graduates of Becker High School.

Olson needs to explain why he supported funding Taxi 2000's bogus $24 million PRT "test facility" in Duluth with the taxpayers' money. That project was pure pork and nothing more. The $4 million that Olson got the House to approve was stripped from the bonding bill by a joint House/Senate conference committee.

Personal Rapid Transit is Not a "Green Technology".

The Sierra Club North Star Transportation Committee voted May 1st to affirm their support for Transit for Livable Communities' resolution opposing public funding of PRT. Download a copy here.

Some "Greens", in particular, Mark Olson's pod-pal Dean Zimmermann still like to refer to PRT as a "green technology" or "sustainable transportation".

The TLC resolution says Minnesota shouldn't waste time on PRT and PRT doesn't get a green seal of approval from the Sierra Club either... and that is the final word.

Learn more about the PRT scam at the PRT is a Joke web site.